Houston Estate Planning Attorney

Protect Your Houston Retirement – Avoid These Three Mistakes

Published on: April 12, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Reality kicks in when the year or actual date of your retirement is around the corner and you realize that your retirement finances aren't what you had thought they would be. For many, this means their retirement includes part time employment or not retiring at all. Harsh lessons, which can be avoided if you take the advice found in "3 Retirement Errors to Avoid" from CPA Practice Advisor.

Unfortunately, many folks don't spend a lot of time even thinking about retirement because they think it's a far-off time when money will have magically accumulated. That means no money to buy the condo in Cozumel, pay for the grandkids' education, or live a life of leisure. Someone in this situation might have to find a part-time job to make ends meet—and it's not out of the question that they could outlive their money. Don't end up without the money you need for retirement. Avoid these common mistakes.

Not understanding taxes. We know that most of the time our money is taxable right away, like earnings from employment or interest on savings. But with individual retirement accounts, the taxes can be deferred. There's also tax-free money, like municipal bonds, life insurance proceeds, and 529 education savings plans. You should try to move as much taxable money as you can to the tax-deferred or tax-free categories.

Hey, Houston! What’s Up With Oregon?

Published on: January 21, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

According to CNN Money, Americans are moving and Oregon, South Carolina and Vermont are heading up the list of the most popular places, as reported in "Oregon is the most popular state to move to."

Oregon leads the list as the top "moving to" destination in 2015 for the third year in a row. This is according to a study of 123,000 moves conducted by United Van Lines. Nearly 70% of the interstate moves in Oregon were people moving to the state, and the number of people moving to Oregon has increased by 10% in the past six years.

The research also showed that five of the ten states with the highest number of inbound movers are west of the Mississippi River, with the tech boom playing a large part in attracting new residents to the West Coast. However, that's just part of it.

Family Run Foundations: Subject to IRS Scrutiny

Published on: September 24, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

The goals of a family foundation may be ensured by appointing family members to head up the foundation. Children or siblings of the deceased are usually appointed to run these foundations, with the hopes that they know better than anyone unrelated to the family how to achieve and maintain the values and goals of the foundation.

This “keep-it-in-the-family” approach may not be the best in every family.

The New York Times, in “When Family Members Run Foundations, Scrutiny Never Ends,” identifies some of the potential pitfalls awaiting unwary family members when running a family foundation.

IRS Announces New Estate Tax Rule; Implementation Guidelines Not In Place

Published on: September 22, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

The IRS enacted a new law that required any estates filing Form 706 after July 31, 2015 to report the value of the estate within 30 days after filing the estate form. However, the IRS never issued any implementing regulations for the law. As a result, the IRS has recently announced that the requirements will be postponed until February 29, 2016. Mondaq.com reported this development in an article titled “IRS Postpones New Requirements For Estates To Report Asset Values.”

This does not mean that estate administrators should do anything different than they were already planning to do. It is still important to get proper valuations of estate assets as they will have to be reported for estate tax purposes.

The IRS will eventually implement regulations for the new rules and estate administrators should be ready to file at that time. On the upside, the postponement may give some administrators a little more breathing room.

Finalize Your Estate Plan for Planning Your Estate Sale!

Published on: September 21, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Baby Boomers have long dictated trends and styles. Today’s Boomers continue to establish trends as they begin their down-sizing moves. Estate sales are a growing niche as older adults scale back their lifestyles. Estate sales have become big business as aging Americans decide that they’d rather let someone else handle the details, according to the Detroit Free Press article, "Estate sales boom with aging demographics."

What is an estate sale? It is an auction where one’s household belongings are put up for sale. They are popular for buyers because estate sales often contain older, valuable possessions that can be purchased at a discount. In fact, some people even make a living out of buying items at estate sales and selling them for retail elsewhere, such as their own shops or on eBay.

As a result, there appears to be two groups of “sellers” who might consider having an estate sale.

Family Discord Likely When No Will Exists

Published on: September 18, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

A recent article in Marketwatch’s Moneyologist column, "What to do when a parent dies and leaves no will," starts with a sad example of how families fall apart when the lack of estate planning pits children against each other.

The woman recounts how her father told her and her sister that he was making the sister a signatory on his bank account so that she could pay any bills of his estate out of it. He said that the rest of his estate would be divided equally between them.

Five months later the father passed away without a will.

Are Pet Trusts Going to the Dogs…Cats…Cockatiels?

Published on: September 16, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

We all love our pets! Leslie Ann Mandel really loved her 32 cockatiels, and her will included a mention of each and every one of her precious pets.

Mandel even put $100,000 into a trust for their care and left detailed instructions about how to care for them. She appointed her stepson as the trustee and he is now responsible for the birds.

The Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog wrote about this story in a recent article,"Deceased Millionaire Leaves $100,000 To A Pet Trust For Her 32 Cockatiels."

Rival Auction Houses Fight for $500 Million Art Collection

Published on: September 15, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Estate plans can outline everything from the disposition of family heirlooms to the distribution of vast land and property holdings. Recently, the $500 million art collection of the estate of shopping center magnate A. Alfred Taubman was in the news. Taubman’s collection is thought to be one of the most valuable private art collections in the world.

Recently the New York Times published "Sotheby's to Auction A. Alfred Taubman's $500 Million Trove," detailing the war between the rival auction houses as they fought for the right to auction the collection.

Christie's and Sotheby's went back and forth with Taubman's family for months in an effort to win the bid. Both auction houses created mock catalogues for the collection and put exceptional effort into their presentations. The interesting question, however, is why there was a war in the first place?

Scams Continue to Grow: Houston Residents Note Warnings

Published on: September 11, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

If you had an email account in the 1990s, you were personally selected to help a Nigerian prince recover his rightfully due inheritance. He may have written to you many times, pleading with you for your help and thanking you profusely in advance for your generosity and kindness. Some of us got emails from different princes or members of African royalty who had been forced to flee their countries. The English was broken, but the message was clear – we were special, we had been chosen to help, and in return, we were going to be rich beyond our wildest dreams. We were victims of an attempted scam.

The basic idea behind the scam was that an extremely wealthy person in Nigeria had his accounts frozen or could not transfer money out of the country without help. The scammer either requested that money be sent or that bank account numbers be sent to facilitate the transfer of the scammer's assets for which the person would be rewarded handsomely later.

That this was a scam seems obvious, as why would some wealthy African need the assistance of random Americans? However, everyone knows about the scam because it worked. The scammer just needs one person out of millions to take the bait. That is true with most common scams. Only one person needs to take the bait to make attempting to scam thousands worth the scammer's time.

Ernie Banks’ Estate Saga Continues

Published on: September 9, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

The ongoing skirmish over the small estate of baseball legend Ernie Banks has gone into extra innings. There was a battle between Banks’ estranged wife and the caretaker who was named as sole heir to the estate. Most recently, a third party has claimed a portion of the modest estate.

Banks' friend, Shirley Marx, has entered a claim against the estate for $80,000. Marx claims this is the amount she loaned to Banks while he worked for her family's moving company. However, the loans were not documented, which will make it difficult for Marx to prove her claims.

The Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog reported on this in "Estate of Ernie Banks Faces New Challenge As Creditor Steps Forward."